An issue for service providers in a communication network is how a service provider of a visited network is to treat a customer of another service provider when the customer roams into the visited network. One possibility is for the service provider of the visited network to treat visiting subscribers the same as subscribers of the service provider of the visited network. Thus, both visiting and home subscribers could share the same quality of service and types of service provided by the provider of the visited network. This approach may be unsatisfactory since there may be constraints on the services and quality of service that can be provided to both visiting and home subscribers. On the other hand, a service provider of a visited network may desire to offer different qualities of service to visiting subscribers and home subscribers, pursuant to, for example, a service level agreement (SLA) between the service provider of the visited network and a service provider of the home network of the visiting subscribers. However, current Long Term Evolution (LTE) standards do not specify a method to differentiate services provided to visiting and home subscribers.
Thus, there is a need for a system and method of allocating resources to a visiting subscriber that roams into a visited network in a manner that allows differentiation in the provisioning of services between visiting subscribers and home subscribers.